Knowledge of the properties of plastics is essential for designing products, specifying the material to be used, carrying out quality control on finished products, failure analysis and for understanding the structure and behaviour of new materials.

Each class of materials has its own specific test procedures, which have developed as the material has evolved. This book concentrates on one area of testing – short-term mechanical tests. These are defined as tests of mechanical properties where the effects of long periods of time and cycling are ignored. This group of tests includes hardness, tensile, compression, shear, flexing, impact and tear and in this book it is also taken to include density and dimensional measurement together with test piece preparation and conditioning.

The topics covered in this book, include:1. IntroductionReasons for Testing, Source and Condition of Test Pieces, Test Conditions, Limitations of Results, Sampling, Standards, Quality Control of Testing, Test Equipment, Product Testing, and Modes of Stressing. 2. Test Piece PreparationMixing, Moulding, Stamping from Sheet or Film, and Machining. 3. ConditioningStorage, Conditioning, Heat Treatment, Mechanical Conditioning, Test Conditions, and Apparatus for Conditioning. 4. Mass, Density and DimensionsMeasurement of Mass, of Density, and of Dimensions. 5. HardnessRelationships, Standard Methods, and Other Methods. 6. Tensile Stress-StrainGeneral, and Test Methods. 7. Compression Stress-StrainTest Apparatus, Standard, and Other Tests. 8. Shear PropertiesStandard, and Other Tests. 9. Flexural Stress-StrainGeneral, and Test Methods. 10. Impact StrengthGeneral, and Specific Tests. 11. Tear PropertiesTest Piece Geometry, Standard, and Other Tests 12. Fracture ToughnessStandard, and Other Methods. This book will be useful to all those who are already involved in the testing of polymers and it is an ideal guide to those just starting out in the field, whether in academia or industry.

Roger Brown is an internationally acknowledged expert on physical testing and quality assurance of polymers. He has published more than 70 technical papers and three standard textbooks on testing. In addition, he is editor of the journal Polymer Testing and co-editor of the newsletter The Test Report. He has over 25 years experience of running the testing laboratories and services at Rapra. Roger is active on many Standards committees.